In absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners and absorbent pads, bacteria in body fluid such as sweat, urine and menstrual blood may proliferate, which may cause skin sore or inflammation. Here, techniques for providing such an absorbent article with an antibacterial function have been known.
Specifically, there have been known uses of: fibers each having a surface directly coated with an antibacterial agent; a sheet coated with an antibacterial agent after the sheet is formed; and fibers made to contain an antibacterial agent by, for example, kneading the antibacterial agent (Patent Document 1: JP-A H5-103821). Furthermore, there has been known an absorbent article configured to completely kill unwanted bacteria in a binder binding pulp and a super absorbent polymer which form an absorber, by adding and mixing an antibacterial agent into the binder (Patent Document 2: JP-A 2005-198701). Polyvinyl alcohol is used as the binder.